Just Another Summer
by Silver345
Summary: AU. Because of complicated circumstances, Raven is being dropped off by her mother to stay at her grandmother's house for the summer. Being her, this situation will probably be annoying to say the least. Rated T for mentions of abuse, and perhaps some little issues later on. I guess you could classify this as adventure, but not exactly.
1. Chapter 1

Alright then, this will be my first Teen Titans story (seeing as the other one was a one-shot) and I'm hoping I did a good job! Any advice you may have is appreciated!

I don't own Teen Titans

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A black sedan drove down the rarely used country road, seeming very out of place on the dusty path with no sign of civilization in sight. It was getting to be about noon and the suns rays heated the black car, much to the dismay of its occupants who had the air conditioning turned up to the maximum.

Inside, a woman with long dark hair and surprisingly formal dress was driving uncomfortably. Her white dress suit was becoming wrinkled with heat and humidity and she was being worn down by the irritation of her teenage daughter in the passenger seat.

Her daughter's appearance was quite different from her. The teenager's dark hair was shoulder length and she wore all dark clothes; black shorts, high tops, and a purple tank top. Her feet were up on the dashboard and she had been on her smartphone for the past 50 miles.

Her mother had confiscated it at the beginning of the trip, but after an hour and a half of teenage angst and whining, she decided that addicted silence would be favorable over the rage that was inevitable if the exhausted mother was pushed any farther. So there they sat, a frazzled woman in a dress suit and her technology addicted daughter waiting in silence until they reached their destination.

Suddenly the silence was broken by a loud growling from both women's stomachs. The looked at each other wide eyed.

"Raven? I don't suppose that you're as hungry as I am?" The older woman looked sheepishly at her daughter.

"I'm just going to look for some rest stop signs now, my phone's battery is running low anyway." Raven looked out the window, not answering her mother's question in any definite way.

Her mother sighed. "You do that honey. Tell me when you see one." She shook her head after watching her daughter for a bit. It was strange to think that she had been exactly the same at that age. They returned to their silence while Raven searched for roadside stops.

:.:.:.:.:.:

In the sparse countryside, it took Raven thirty minutes to find a sign that merely told them about the nearest rest stop. Thankfully, it was in only fifteen miles. Both were feeling faint by this time with the heat and hunger, and they began searching desperately for any sign that the rest stop was close by, even more so once they discovered that a truck stop diner had established itself there. After a bit, they finally found it and ended their silence with exhausted, victorious exclamations.

"Oh my gosh that was torture!" Raven slumped against the back of the seat and threw her fists into the air.

"Yeah, I don't know about you, but I'm going to get myself the biggest burger on that menu!" her mother said, laughing.

As they got out of the car, Raven looked at her mother questioningly. Burgers didn't seem like the kind of food a powerful lawyer would eat on a regular basis. But as she looked longer, she realized that her mother really was quite a young woman. The woman didn't have to be quite as professional as she did at her job. Raven never actually knew how old her mother was because every year when her birthday came around, she used the same "27" number candles on her cake and winked at her daughter whenever she asked about them. She could have very well been that age because her mother had no wrinkles other than laugh lines and her hair was a solid shade of black. It was an amazing revelation to her at the time.

They headed into the diner. Fake wood was the main decor as the diner was attempting to make itself into a log cabin themed stop even though they were in the middle of the flatland area where the tallest tree was the corn plants that ranchers had cultivated themselves. They talked to the hostess who immediately walked them over to a small booth by the window and served them water. As they sipped their water through bendy straws, Raven's mother decided that now would be a good time to start up a conversation.

"So, Raven, are you excited for summer vacation? A whole three months until Junior year! Thats got to be exciting for you, right?" the older woman started.

"Yeah, a whole three months stranded in some little town that I've never heard of, with the grandma that I've never even met. Fun." Raven threw back, glancing at her mother who began fidgeting.

"Yeah, well, she used to come a lot before she moved…"

"Which was when I was a baby. So it doesn't really make a difference."

Her mother looked at Raven sympathetically. "Maybe you'll make some new friends?"

"What's wrong with the ones I have?"

"The last friend I met of yours, who also happened to be the first, was a bit… questionable. I'm pretty sure he had twenty face piercings, who even does that?!" her mother exclaimed.

Raven sighed. "You just need to learn to accept my friends, 'cause I'm not planning on changing them any time soon. But back to the man problem, why can't you see how bored I'm going to be in this town, 'Jump City'? Population of less than 15,000 people? I'm not sure that actually qualifies as a city, mom." Raven glared at her mother who was beginning to look at the menu self consciously.

She looked like she was about to respond, but at that moment, the waitress came to take their orders. Raven, realizing that she hadn't even looked at the menu, quickly found something that would fit her preference, and pointed at it's picture, not even bothering to find it's name.

When the waitress left with their orders, they were left in silence once more, their conversation interrupted. Raven glared at her mother while she took a sip of her water.

"It would have been better if you had just asked my opinion."

"You and I both know that you would have refused, and then I'd be stuck in that same situation. With you still at home to deal with this whole mess that's going down."

"I'm not a child anymore. It's not like I was against the divorce or anything, I was hoping for it! I can handle it!" Raven narrowed her eyes and the hand that had been resting lightly on the table clenched into a fist. Her mother, who was beginning to get annoyed herself, stared back at her.

"I know you _think_ you can, but I don't want you to have to find out that you can't and have no escape."

Raven glared down at the table. Her hand pressed against the glossy, fake wood on the table, tracing the fake woodgrains lightly with her fingertips all the way to the end of the table.

After a long silence, the waitress came back with their food; Raven Roth with a cold cut sandwich and Ms. Roth with a quarter pound burger. When the server left, her mother grinned and spun her plate so that the fries were closer to Raven. She picked up her burger as daintily as possible and took a bite. Her eyes closed and she smiled as she chewed.

"Wow, this burger is amazing!" She said, her mouth still rather full.

Raven took the time to finish chewing before she spoke. "I thought you were supposed to be the mature one. What's this with burgers and speaking with your mouth full?" She took the largest fry off of her mother's plate and dipped in in ketchup. The older woman took a moment to set her burger down and wipe her fingers on her paper napkin.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I've never been the mature one. I didn't have to grow up as fast as you did. Thats why I'm sending you to be with your grandmother. I don't want you to have to grow up so fast, you're already practically older than me…" She scoffed at the thought and looked out the window. She slowly turned her attention back to her daughter and smiled sadly. "I just… I just want you to have a childhood. It's worth it."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Yup, dropping me off in a tiny city on the coast with a woman I've never really met before is definitely what childhood is all about. Thanks for caring so much."

"I'm doing the best I—"

"If you really wanted me to experience childhood, you'd be there too. You wouldn't just let me out of the car and keep driving on your merry way. You'd stay. With me!" She had stood up halfway and was raising her voice by this point and people in the restaurant were beginning to notice.

"Rae, sit down."

Raven's gaze shifted back and forth at the people who were taking fleeting glances at the dark teen, trying to be subtle but were obviously staring at her. She sunk back into her chair and crossed her arms.

"It's Raven," she muttered

"You know I have to get the whole court case settled, don't you? I want to stay in Jump City with you, but I have to stay in Azarath City for the court ruling."

Raven stayed silent. Her mother tried half heartedly to make conversation, but gave up after a bit. The silent eating continued until the waitress came back with the check. After paying, the two walked out of the restaurant. The bell attached to the door handle jingled as they opened it but the hostess' farewell fell upon deaf ears.

As soon as they were on the road, Raven plugged her earbuds into her phone and started playing some loud rock music. Her mother, who had been about to say something, sighed and looked at her daughter, who was pretending to be extremely interested in the plain brown scenery of the hills outside the window.

Cows dotted the landscape every once in a while and Raven's eyes followed each one to the edge of her periphery, grasping for something, anything, that could take her mind off of her mother. She could feel the woman's gaze boring into the back of her head, it was obvious that she was just avoiding conversation since there was nothing outside to be interested in.

_I guess theres one reason that I'm actually glad about to be going to this Jump City. I get to avoid all these awkward "mom talks."_

:.:.:.:.:.:

They hit a surprisingly even bump that jarred her out of her thoughts. She looked back. It was a speed bump. A speed bump? Why was there a speed bump in the middle of nowhere?

_What is this, civilization?_

She checked the time on her phone. It had been two hours since they had left the restaurant. She dug around a little and found the crinkled book that her mother had thrown at her before the trip. _Guide to Jump City! _She straightened out one of the folded corners of the cover and studied the cover. It was a surprisingly large looking city despite what she deemed as a small town. It was a coastal city with a fairly small island with a huge tree attached to the city by a bridge. After delving into the pages of the book, she found that the multiple-century old tree was one of the few attractions of the city, it was a miracle that it had stayed alive on a seawater bound island for as long as it had. She flipped through the pages more. Nothing special stood out; the town just barely had all the essential fixtures: a pizza parlor, a movie theater, a high school. Turning a few more pages, she was able to conclude that this town was nothing special at all.

Soon, she had put the book down. Both because of the fact that the town was utterly boring, and because reading in the car made her stomach roll. Which was really too bad because she loved to read. But even a few minutes of focusing on the words in a book made her feel nauseous. Tossing the book into the glove box, she leaned back and closed her eyes. She could feel every bump that the car hit, and with the cracked roads that hadn't been repaved in years, her stomach was roiling. She focused on her breathing, this always helped her focus when she felt sick or stressed. _In, out. In, out. In… out… In… out…_

_:.:.:.:.:.:_

Before she knew it, she opened her eyes to the surprising view of buildings. She hadn't even realized that she had fallen asleep. Raven sat up and yawned a little. She looked out the window and saw that they were passing some medium height office buildings. Nothing compared to the skyscrapers she was used to, but familiar none the less.

She glanced at her mother, who had taken her eyes off the street momentarily to smile at her daughter. The older woman's smile was tired from the long drive and her eyes were strained but she turned her attention back to the traffic around her. Raven returned to looking out the passenger side window.

The downtown was busy, not as busy as Azarath City had been, but she supposed that it was busy enough to qualify as a real city. Upon a closer look, she saw that there were many of the chain stores that she would usually avoid, mostly located in a large mall that the pair had passed a few moments ago. However, she saw a few small coffee shops and book stores that seemed promising for her tastes. She made a mental note to look into those.

Soon, the large, multistory buildings receded and suburban landscape began to take its place. The houses in this area were just as average as the downtown area had been; the houses looked semi-large, but nothing spectacular like her home in Azarath City.

With her mother being a lawyer and her father a powerful politician, she would have lived in the lap of luxury. However, even with the glamorous house and rich living, her life was a living nightmare. She lived in a world where her publicly loving father was truly an abusive tyrant. She had no idea of how she could end her nightmare and she dared not speak about it. Her mother was the lawyer after all; if she wasn't speaking up, why should her daughter? However, one day, not so very long ago, her mother had taken Mr. Trigon to court on the case. Without one backwards look, she and Raven began going by her maiden name, Roth, and Raven was being shipped off to some small town to live with the grandmother she barely even knew. All this to keep her from witnessing firsthand the day she had dreamt of for years of her life.

And it wasn't fair.

This was the day she had been waiting for since middle school and she couldn't see it for herself. And there was nothing she could do about it. Raven stared blankly out the window. She had been afraid to show strong emotion in her father's house and no one could force her to feel in this place. She could used that. She became determined to stay in her shell from then on as punishment to her mother for abandoning her.

As the day grew older, the heat melted away from the coastal city. Raven reached for her bag and dragged it towards her from the back seat of the car. She unzipped the main compartment and after digging past multiple books and other clothes, she managed to pull a dark blue hoodie out of her suitcase. She moved her seatbelt around her arm and put the sweatshirt over her head. When she pulled her head through, the hood of the sweatshirt was on her head. Raven took one glance at her mother and decided to keep it up. She untucked her short hair from inside the body of the sweatshirt so that it could hang freely out of the mouth of the hood, but left the hood itself in place.

Before long, the black, now dusty, car pulled up to the curb in front of a gray, two-story house with white trim and a large oak tree in the front. A woman with dark hair threaded with silvery gray who was sitting in a chair on the porch stood up as their car reached the house. She looked to be about sixty and she wore a black sweatshirt, jeans and tennis shoes. Ms. Roth looked at her daughter, who met her gaze with a mix of pleading and anger. Her mother took the keys out of the ignition and put them in her purse.

"You know I wouldn't just drop you here and drive off don't you?"

Her question was met with silence. She sighed and got out of the car. Raven followed suit, grabbing her backpack from beneath her feet and dragging her suitcase out of the backseat. When she got out, she saw that the older woman had walked down the walkway to meet them and was hugging her mother. She carried her luggage towards the two and waited until they were ready. Soon, her mother turned back to her daughter.

"Rae, this is Grandma Roth. You'll be staying at her house this summer," Ms. Roth said, introducing her mother to her daughter.

The older woman stretched her hand out, and when Raven cautiously took it, she was pulled into a bear hug with her other hand pressed to her side uncomfortably.

"Nice to meet you, kid," She pulled back, holding Raven by her shoulders at arms length. "But call me Angela. Grandma Roth sounds like some old lady who should be baking cookies in the kitchen all day."

She let go of Raven after looking her up and down, seemingly trying to memorize her granddaughter's face in the few moments that she took. She reached down and grabbed Raven's weighty suitcase with one arm and hefted it up onto her shoulder like it was no heavier than an empty bag. She whirled around and started marching up to the front door with a spring in her step that would rival that of a child's. She paused at the door when she realized the girl wasn't following and looked back.

"Trust me, I'm definitely not that old lady." With that, she threw open the door and walked into her house, leaving the front yard that she had left seeming empty and quiet by comparison.

Raven looked at her mother, wide-eyed. Her mother met her gaze with a chuckle and then looked up at the house.

"Aren't you glad I didn't get my mother's touchy-feely genes?" Ms. Roth asked plainly. Not waiting for an answer, she headed towards the door which had been left open carelessly.

Raven was left standing outside with her backpack, speechless. This was going to be an interesting summer.

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So there it is! First chapter, woot woot! I tried to get Raven's character to fit into the story with her emotions still able to show, because since she doesn't have powers, theres no danger in her showing her emotion besides, you know, traumatic damage. Also, you may have noticed that I called her Raven Roth instead of her usual alias which is Rachel Roth. I did this on purpose because Raven is actually a name that I like and its a name, whereas characters like Beast Boy will undoubtedly be called by their other names with possible references to their hero names. Hope you liked it and that you'll give me a review!


	2. Hiatus Notice

So, I regret to inform you that I will be putting this story on hiatus for a couple of reasons. First off, I'm working on this other story ("How to Love" if you want to check it out) and I've been feeling inspired to work on it a lot recently. Second, I have so many ideas for what I want to do with this, but I think I need to plan it out a bit more and figure out how to connect everything because that is the one thing I fail at most of all. At the moment it's like trying to build a house with no nails or a hammer. Which, if you weren't already aware, is quite difficult.

I'm not killing this story, don't worry, I've just had good ideas for the other story that connect very easily together into a nice little bundle. So until I get stuck on or finish "How to Love", this story is going on hiatus. The plan right now is to just keep going on this one story and intersperse chapters with one-shots and stuff like that. So, if you like Teen Titans, come on over to my page! Thank you for understanding! Laterade!


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